Kevin is the manager at his work. There are fifteen guys on his crew; plus drivers and other workers who aren't his direct responsibility YET because of their location within the site, he is responsible for.
He has some young men on this crew and this hasn't gone without challenges for him. It is literally their first big boy job. They have little experience with being required to be on time, on task, not on their phone. Also, more difficult to teach sometimes: they need training on what's appropriate for the work environment and what's not. For instance: what's considered banter and not sass, how grown-ass-men communicate versus a teenager, and problem-solving and personal responsibility when things go wrong.
Also, Kevin had to adjust his approach to communicate with these youngins. If they called him "Sir", it rubbed him the wrong way and I not-too-gently told him to get over it. We talked about how it's his job to give them the boundaries and initially help them to navigate them. (being on time, on task, and such) Also, reminders that they're so young. I usually say "Oh, he's still a baby." which prods him to remember they're YOUNG.
One of them calls him Mr. Kevin. He was a little WTH about that. I just laughed and said "He was raised in childcare. He's been trained to refer to adults like that and especially if you don't like being called sir."
So, there's the backstory.
Carter is eighteen. This is his first job, let alone his first big boy job. Everything is new to him. It's been a struggle as he discovers how to move about in this environment. Kevin has come home with his hair on fire because Carter did or said something these past few months. That being said, he is growing into the job.
Kevin phoned about an hour ago and said "Don't jump to conclusions but..."
I assumed it was going to be about his brother and was pleasantly surprised it wasn't. INSTEAD, he says: "How serious is chlamydia?"
Ummm, what now?
Carter came to him to let him know he had to leave a little early for a doctor appointment. He had received a phone call over the weekend that he had been exposed and needed STD testing.
There are a lot of layers there. Let's unpack:
Kevin let him know that in the future he didn't need to know the REASON for the doctor appointment.
He then advised him to let his job partner know. Carter thought he meant to let him know about the STD. "No" Kevin says "That you're leaving early. No one needs to know about the other thing." (As Kevin is telling me this, I am laughing and yelling "YES!!! Let him know WHY!!!!")
Then Kevin phones me to see how big of a deal this was. I explained that on a scale, it's not that that big of a deal. My question was "WHY WASN'T HE SUITED UP?!?!?!" Kevin laughed uncomfortably and said "I'm not asking him that." AND, I added, that perhaps he should choose his partners a little more carefully.
It turns out that it did come up again as Kevin let him know that the disease wasn't a big deal like HIV, Herpes or Hepatitis. He did ask him why he didn't suit up. His response: "That is a good question."
Sigh. CARTER.
Kevin advised him none too gently that he needs to every.single.time. And that they weren't talking about this ever again.
We're assuming that this is falling under "Other duties as required" on Kevin's job description.
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